I really liked Freakbeat in LA yesterday. I ran out of time to explore it all, but I found a handful of singles and 12”s, and they had one of the biggest Beatle bootleg sections I’ve ever seen. I didn’t get to finish sifting through the 7”s before I had to split, but it is what it is. There’s a Starbucks nearby which helped buy me time as it gave the fam a place to hang out while they waited for me. I especially liked the cool store staff: I’d seen here on IG a week or two back someone posting about some incredible (OK, only incredible to me) vintage record promo items and buttons they found at the shop, so when I realized I’d be literally driving by this week, I had to stop in. Alas, the guy who sells buttons, etc. was not in, so I was bummed. The counter person however knew a dismayed collector when he saw one and said, “Don’t worry; you’re not missing anything; all that’s left is like 100 Tom Robinson Band buttons—that level of stuff.” Aleviating me of collector regret? Now that’s awesome customer service. If I ever wind up around there again, I’m definitely stopping in.
